John Sl

I’ve been looking into some sort of riser for my Barefaced One 10. I wasn’t after tilting it, just raising it while still benefiting from floor coupling. I looked at various stands, boxes, crates, retro side tables, ammo boxes, the usual, and eventually decided to make my own. I got two pieces of plywood and notched them so they interlocked in an X shape. I put a square of plywood on top. The idea of interlocking appealed to me. It’s light and strong and I think that’s what’s going on in the cab - albeit more accurate and more professional! The centre of the cone is less than 60cm from the floor. I still have the option to tilt the cab slightly if I want, but as it is I get the audience inside the sound cone, assuming 30 degrees off axis.

I’ve been using a single One 10 paired with a Harley Benton Block-800B for over a year now and I’m very chuffed with it. I use this rig for practice at home, rehearsals and gigs. It may seem an odd combination, a top quality cab with a budget head but it works for me. A west end girl with an east end boy, if you like. I have a Zoom B3 in front for gigs and an MS-60B for rehearsals and practice. AC Bs Pre with h.p.f is always on. I d.i. from the B3 to the p.a. so I’ve got uncoloured sound from the p.a. and coloured sound from the One 10. My dream rig - but I am easily pleased !

This thread is so interesting, although some of the technical stuff is beyond me. Like others I use the AcBsPre in the B3 to cut the very low frequencies, to reduce the load on the speakers. Typically I use patches AcBsPre/Graphic eq/agamp for cleaner sounds and AcBsPre/Graphic eq/SVT for a bit of distortion. I set the low mids on the AcBsPre to 63 or 70 Hz and the amp sim mids to 70 or 80 Hz. I set the Depth to 6 or 7 then adjust frequencies as follows to push the curve up and get a steeper slope: 40 Hz AcBsPre Bass 50 Graphic eq 63 AcBsPre 70 amp sim or AcBsPre 80 amp sim I check the frequencies on an old version of Audacity. With a peak of about -15dB, 30 Hz is down at about -45, which is fine for my purposes. This gives me an articulate bottom end; or am I talking out of my a**e ?!

FDC484950 makes a good point about exhausting off the peg options first. Especially if bassmansam is “more into aesthetics and playability”. A few years ago I had a significant birthday approaching and thought about treating myself to a custom bass. I looked at the usual suspects. In the course of other searches I came across a used Ibanez SR500 with a poplar burl top. I bought it and, in order of what’s important to me: it sounds good, it’s comfortable to play/balances well, the workmanship is good, it looks great (satisfies “exotic” for me), it’s light. The itch had been scratched and the risk was small. It cost £400 and I don’t think spending another 2 or 3k would have given me more pleasure. Indeed, for me there’s enjoyment to be had from finding a gem in mass-produced basses. I gig with it every month. My bass wouldn’t suit the OP but you get the idea. Maybe a bass off the peg with a re-finish would do the trick.

I’m sure I’m a huge disappointment - 3. An Ibanez SR500 and a Yamaha BB614, both bought about 10 years ago. I gig with both, alternately, with the other as backup. The other is a Short scale Squier Jag. This has two neodymium magnets, 25x8 mm, on top of the bridge pickup. It’s an absolute hoot! The only gas I have is, er, the other sort.

My credit card mod was just thumbthing I wanted to share.

Apologies if this has already been said somewhere in this thread: A quick, cheap and reversible thing for pickups that are a bit low and don’t have mounting lugs. Cut a strip off an old credit card, say 20mm wide. Wedge it down between pickup and body. Bend top over 90 degrees to give say 6mm to rest thumb on. Trim off surplus and roughen card for grip. Works for my Yamaha and Ibanez and is gig-tested!